"Nuclear reactor" is a sensational phrase that has been used by individual experimenters and popular media to refer to a variety of nuclear experiments accessible to individuals that are not actually nuclear reactors in the conventional sense, and that may or may not demonstrate exceptional scientific or technical aptitude. Most notably, "nuclear reactor" has regularly been used in reference to the construction of small nuclear fusion demonstration devices such as Farnsworth "fusors". The technology of these devices has nothing in common with chain-reacting nuclear fission piles, which is what "nuclear reactor" denotes to most people, so the use of this phrase to refer to the fusion projects is misleading and is chosen intentionally for its sensationalist appeal. Dozens of high-school-age students have successfully assembled small fusion projects over the last decade. Some of these projects have been scientifically ambitious and highly original, while many have been rather derivative of an established path to success in the fusion hobby community. To a lesser extent, the "nuclear reactor" phrase has also been attached to activities in which an individual hobbyist attempts to produce nuclear reactions such as (a,n) reactions or neutron-capture reactions that may be important in various nuclear fuel cycles. But once again, those experiments are not actually "nuclear reactors" in the conventional sense.
